BBV - Status and activities by State update

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http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

Senate:

One of the biggest worries we have had about Federal legislation is that there were three competing bills in the Senate, submitted by Senators Boxer, Clinton, and Graham. We've been asking people to support Graham's bill, S 1980, and to urge all the Senators to get together behind a single merged bill. We are pleased to report some very positive developments in the Senate.

On March 10, New York Senator Clinton's office joined forces with Florida Senator Bob Graham on a new Senate bill. That bill will combine many of the provisions of their separate bills (Graham/S.1980 and Clinton/S. 1986) related to voter-verified audit trails for electronic voting systems.

On March 12, California Senator Boxer's office joined the other two Senators, so the new Senate bill will include many provisions from Boxer's bill, S. 2045. (See a comparison of the three separate bills at http://www.verifiedvoting.org/senate_bill_comparison.asp )

The combined Graham/Clinton/Boxer bill is nearing submission to the Senate, possibly within the next week, at which point the Senate will assign a bill number. Called the Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative Democracy (RECORD) Act, the bill requires a voter-verifiable paper record so that all voters will be able to confirm their votes were accurately cast and recorded. The paper ballot would also be used in the event of a recount or audit.

On March 25, the original Graham bill, S. 1980, picked up one more cosponsor, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.

2. House of Representatives

On March 10, H.R. 2239 picked up one more cosponsor, Rep. Levin of Michigan's 12th Congressional District. The number of cosponsors now stands at 128.

We believe that HR 2239 has been in a holding pattern while Representatives await developments in the Senate. We hope that a unified bill in the Senate will lead to resumed momentum in the House.


NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Common Cause and People for the American Way have both issued statements supporting voter verifiable paper trails. http://www.commoncause.org/action/printable.cfm?ArtID=144&topicid=6
and at: http://www.pfaw.org/go/voterverification


STATE UPDATE

1. Maryland

House Bill 53, the Voter Verified Paper Record, sponsored by Delegates Montgomery and Cadden, is in the House Ways and Means Committee, which held a Public Hearing on Feb. 10.

Senate Bill 393, the Voter Verified Paper Record, was sponsored by Senators Harris and Greenip, who held a public hearing which was packed with supporters. The bill passed the Senate on March 31.

The Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland http://www.TrueVoteMD.org has been leading the charge against Diebold touch screen machines in that state, and has been facing fierce political resistance. Fortunately, True Majority has also been helping a lot.

2. Ohio

The Legislative Joint Committee on Ballot Security held public hearing on March 17. Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell is trying to force counties to select a electronic voting system vendor by March 30 or he threatens to make the selection for them.

For a joint Verified Voting and Electronic Frontier Foundation Ohio legislative action alert, see http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2885

For more information on Ohio legislation status, see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/stateview.asp?state=OH

3. Alaska

House Bill 459 is in the House State Affairs Committee, which held public hearings on March 18. After discussion on the bill, the committee chair has promised amendments.

For more information on Alaska legislation status, see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/stateview.asp?state=AK

4. California

First, please note that the meeting of the California Voting Systems and Procedures (VSP) panel has been rescheduled from March 30 to 10:00am on April 7.

Second, the VSP has scheduled another meeting on April 21-22 to discuss voting systems for the November 2004 election, among other matters. VSP encourages the public to submit written comments on agenda items no later than 5:00 p.m. on April 6th to ensure their delivery to the VSP members prior to the meeting. If you wish to provide information or present an oral statement at the meeting, please contact Michael Wagaman at [phone] or [e-mail]. In all cases, the presiding officer reserves the right to impose time limits on presentations as may be necessary to ensure that the agenda is completed. For more information on submitting VSP comments, see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.asp?id=1666 and for more information about the VSP meeting see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.asp?id=1667

For more information on California legislation status, see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/stateview.asp?state=CA